the daydream fund challenge thread

rhiwfield

Hi guys, got a fair bit of knowledge on wildflowers, and the seed is almost the least important bit. There are no "one size fits all" seed mixtures, what works depends on your soil, moisture, light and nutrient level. Happy to respond to pms or general queries

lostinrates

rhiwfield wrote: »

Hi guys, got a fair bit of knowledge on wildflowers, and the seed is almost the least important bit. There are no "one size fits all" seed mixtures, what works depends on your soil, moisture, light and nutrient level. Happy to respond to pms or general queries

What information extra to what i have given would help you help me rhiwfield?

Davesnave

Lir, you were asking about bulbs, corms etc. This firm I can recommend, but as you'll see, they are not cheap and they are sold out of many things until later this year:

http://shop1.actinicexpress.co.uk/shops/rosecottageplants/index.php

rhiwfield

lostinrates wrote: »

What information extra to what i have given would help you help me rhiwfield?

Lir, this is all shades of grey. Its a matter of when and what type of flower display you want. A spring display, from bulbs, is prob the easiest to arrange and needs perhaps the least preparation. A spring AND summer display, that will perpetuate, is another matter entirely.

Factors that will impact are moisture, ph level, light, fertility and cutting/grazing regime.

Most wildflowers like poor soil fertility, but most soils nowadays have high fertility (docks and nettles love em). Wildflowers then get outcompeted by the more vigorious plants/grasses. In low fertilty conditions moisture, light and PH levels (+disturbance) will determine which mix of wildflower species are most successful and which die away.

I'd be tempted to do a botanical survey of area you have in mind and that should tell you what you have to work with.

lostinrates

rhiwfield wrote: »

Lir, this is all shades of grey. Its a matter of when and what type of flower display you want. A spring display, from bulbs, is prob the easiest to arrange and needs perhaps the least preparation. A spring AND summer display, that will perpetuate, is another matter entirely.

Factors that will impact are moisture, ph level, light, fertility and cutting/grazing regime.

Most wildflowers like poor soil fertility, but most soils nowadays have high fertility (docks and nettles love em). Wildflowers then get outcompeted by the more vigorious plants/grasses. In low fertilty conditions moisture, light and PH levels (+disturbance) will determine which mix of wildflower species are most successful and which die away.

I'd be tempted to do a botanical survey of area you have in mind and that should tell you what you have to work with.

Yep, the fertility might be an issue...hence me mentioning the number of nettles, and that we were putting impoverished soil there.

Light, half full sun, half no south sun, but east and west sun.

No grazing at all. Can be cut end of season, or a few times mid season if required. Not a lot though!

I do not know soild ph, and since it is going to have imported soil from else where no. Point me testing till done, My guess due to our clay would be mildly alkaline? In the garden both lilac and foxgloves do well, so confusing the picture a little!

There now is grass...mainly rye from dumping there, nettles, soe common mallow, so e chamomile. I put some old daff bulbs in between the hardcore where i could find soil last year and they seen to be coming up.

Moisture.....clay and rubble, lol Not very moist in summer! But its by a ditch, and a drain. Its never goi g to be wet in summer, but gets winter moister...but also surface water from road...which i guess might be nitrogen rich...is not that a risk of surface water? But also polutant!

rhiwfield

Lir, sounds like you have a very mixed set of soil conditions, maybe too nutrient rich, so if I were in your place looking for spring/summer wildflower colour, I'd consider using a mix of bulbs, plug plants + native wildflower mixes. Cut any long grass and scarify the ground before sowing seed and try to keep fertility low and aggressive plants in check by cutting. You might want to look at the seed mixes and favour spring/early summer mixes so that you can cut mid-late summer. If you can remove leavings this will help. Ultimately what suits the conditions will prevail.

One other thing you might try as an experiment, is to leave a patch of imported soil without sowing, to see what grows without human input from seeds in situ or blown in. You might get some nice surprises.

Christopher Lloyds "Meadows" is an inspiring look at unconventional creation of flower filled grassland that deviates from much accepted practice!

rhiwfield

ps. Lir, sounds like you might get a mosaic of species with all the different conditions, that will be interesting in itself

Rummer

Davesnave wrote: »

My order from Premier Seeds came today, nicely packed, and the price was particularly pleasing.

I haven't seen them before, most of my seeds come through Alan Romans now. Not that I need anymore but I will toddle off and have a look at their seeds

choille

CTC - sounds like you have what I had - really nasty viral thing in middle ear. I had it for about 5 weeks & occasionally coming back with slight dizzyness.

I'm finding it hard to read the thread as it's too wide for some reason.

Davesnave

choille wrote: »

CTC - sounds like you have what I had - really nasty viral thing in middle ear. I had it for about 5 weeks & occasionally coming back with slight dizzyness.

I'm finding it hard to read the thread as it's too wide for some reason.

They are messing with the Board. It's all being switched next week. I have huge white areas down each side now, but I'm on a wide screen and I think I'm on the new version. (People's user names are now across the top of posts, not at the left side.)

Maybe the lack of wild flowers here is something to do with fertility. Our land is on a finger of fertile soil which runs across this area, making it more arable than, say, the areas of Culm grassland nearby. There's an ancient field up by the crossroads which has lots of wild flowers though, so maybe I'll take a walk there in the early summer and see what they have in there.